Improvement in the manufacture of gun-barrels



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

R. A. DOUGLAS, OF ORANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO EDWARD ROBINSON,

. OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN-BARRELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,201, dated April 14, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, R. A. DOUGLAS, of Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Gun-Barrels; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention consists in a new method of making gun-barrels by drawing the same from a cylinder of malleable iron previously drilled, substantially as hereinafter more fully explained.

In the manufacture of gun-barrels the main object sought to be attained is the production of a barrel made of tough and fibrous iron of a uniform or regularly increasing thickness from the muzzle to the breech, with a bore perfectly clean, clear, and centrali. 0., concentrio with the outside of the barrel. Numerous attempts to effect this in a practical and economical way have utterly failed. Economy or facility and expeditiousness in the manufacture have been attained at the expense of the pro duct, while a good quality of gun-barrel was produced at great expense of time and labor.

I have invented a simple and expeditious mode of making gun-barrels which is entirely successful, combining the great desiderata in this manufacture hereinbefore referred to. Gun-barrels, according to my invention, are made in the following manner: Take wrought or malleable iron and roll it into round bars or cylinders of two and one-fourth inches in diameter and of from ten to eleven feet in length. (The length of the bar is immaterial to my invention. I indicate ten or eleven feet as the proper length for producing ordinary musketbarrels.) While yet hot, cut the bar thus rolled into pieces of about eleven inches in length, and then drill a hole of about seven-eighths of an inch in diameter through it longitudinallyi. 0., in line or concentrically with its axis. Take then these short pieces about eleven inches in length, two and one-quarter inches outside diameter, and seven-eighths of an inch inside diameter and draw them out under the rolls to the requisite length of the gun-barrel. By this operation both the outside and inside diameter will be proportionately reduced, so that the pieces, when drawn, will have the requisite length, bore, and thickness of the barrel intended to be produced.

In thus proceeding I obtain an exceedingly tough and fibrous barrel, the repeated rolling and drawing down of the iron having a tendency to toughen and condense the fiber, while by drilling the cylinder before it is drawn down to its ultimate shape of the barrel through that part thereof which contains the purest metal a perfectly clean bore is produced, which may be centered with mathematical precision.

Having thus described my invention and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect,I would observe thatIam aware that gun-barrels were heretofore made by drawing the same from ingots or cylinders cast in molds ofsuitable length and diameter. This mode of manufacture is essentially different from mine, and I desire it to be distinctly understood that I lay no claim to it; but

What I do claim is- The method herein described of making gunbarrels by drawing the same from a cylinder of malleable iron previously drilled, substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification before two subsoribin g witnesses.

R. A. DOUGLAS.

Witnesses:

WM. CLEVELAND HICKS, E. Romnsou. 

